Due to limited observational capabilities coaches for games like soccer, basketball, American football, lacrosse and ice hockey often have difficulty accurately monitoring designed plays and game plans during actual performance of the players on the field of play. The speed with which the games are played, the number of players involved, the size of the playing field and the complex interactions of the players and equipment involved all contribute to the difficulties. In addition to tracking what is transpiring on the field, coaches have responsibility for monitoring and recording the academic or professional development of individual players. Under present conditions coaches are often forced to concentrate on the results of their strategies and efforts without knowing exactly why and how they are actually working or how individual players are actually performing.
The present invention assists the coach to carry out his responsibilities more effectively and accurately. For example, in the game of soccer, it employs a computer programmed with algorithms that detect key events like out of bounds, offside, and goals and records each player's performance during the game play. No operative method or system is known that assists coaches to determine effectiveness of a designed play or game plan in real-time while the players are practicing or performing on the field.
The patent literature contains several examples of similar but different systems using similar technology. U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,312 discloses a method and apparatus for tracking sports objects on an athletic field but obtains location information from a GPS system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,002 discloses a system employing video images as opposed to location information to assist coaches to detect and react to offensive and defensive patterns employed on an athletic field during a game. It does not disclose the apparatus or computer programming employed in the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 7,005,970 discloses a method for assisting game officials to officiate athletic events. In one embodiment it employs RF based tracking equipment to locate players and game equipment on a playing field but it does not disclose the apparatus or computer software employed in the present invention or their use in coaching athletes or designing video games.